More out of boredom than anything else I started designing a 1on1 melee map for StarCraft II. Normally I delete my first few attempts but this one turned out so well that I gave it some more gameplay tweaks and a beauty parse which is currently in its mid-stage.

(Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

I tried to make this map as "normal" as possible, meaning, nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary. Which means that I had a thorough look at the features of a classic StarCraft II Beta map.

Some of the gameplay features I noticed were:
- Fairly secured main base with a small ramp that leads to its natural expansion and a bigger side entrance which is blocked by destroyable rocks and field-of-view-blockers, and a small line of cliffs where Reapers, Stalkers or Collosi could ambush. (There are no watch towers in your main base in the current version of the map).
- Main bases have enough space for fully functional 200/200 supply bases.
- Expansions are way smaller but big enough for supporting defense and some buildings.
- Natural expansion that leads to the central fight area.
- Central fight area with multiple ways and Xel'Naga Watch Towers to overview the battlefield.
- Second expansions points which are equally away to both players (might add destructible rocks in the future).
- Islands that are difficult to reach but yield High Yield Mineral Fields (may push them further away from the main land to secure them against Siege Tanks).

Some of the visual features I noticed were:

- No overuse of doodads or terrain painting in the bases or along the main roads.
- Connections are clearly recognizeable by road-like textures.
- Bases are clearly recognizeable by more solid textures.
- Plants, rocks and other doodads are mostly on side roads.
- Some fancier doodad-contstruction are distinguishable as eye-catchers along the road or whenever it can be assured that they wont hinder a unit's path.

I try to think of more as I go but as you probably understand is hte more you work on a map the less you can change its foundations and continue working on it with a flow. The current work-in-progress name is "(2)Glen of Oblivion". What I am currently realy unhappy with is the look and feel of the islands. I seem to have a problem with the sudden change of cliff textures and the islands' shape. I will probably play around with some more doodads to see what can be done. Also the non-playable fields (e.g. water and lowest ground levels) seem uninspired.
Hell, at the moment I think the whole map could need a new doodad-parse, but I also believe that I cannot in good conscience force the map to look good. Some things just come with experience and to get this experience I will need to work on other maps. I'll probably give this map another week before I release it.